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To Paint or to Polish?

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SuperDirtMan

Look Ma, No Hands!
Hello,

Thought I'd post this for some common feedback, seeing what others thought. When I got this bike, the headlamp had a polished finish but was fairly tarnished and dirty. In my naivety I tried to clean it up with some 00 steel wool, and ended up marring the polish. Decided to go all the way to hide it, trying to mimic a brushed finish, but I've been inclined to try and get it to a more professional looking state.

I've gone back and forth on whether I'd like to polish it again, or if I should paint it instead? Or perhaps half-and-half? Front ring polished, rear painted? Or may be just leave it brushed? Still not decided, and this seemed like the best place for some thoughtful input.

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The damage is done, and I wonder how much polishing it's going to take to bring that back. I assume that was chrome. Jim W. is a professional that can make steel look like chrome, but he has access to all the tools and supplies to do this type of work. His crankset is raw steel.

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I like the idea of a painted rear shell and shiny metal front bezel. I like the way this Empire Metalware train lantern looks with OG maroon paint, chrome “focal ray“ adjusting band, and gray hammered metal bezel and end cap.
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Finer and Finer abrasives will make the bare metal nicer and nicer. Do you think the metal is steel? Al? Brass brush is pretty quick way to some shine. The more work with fine abrasives the shinier...
 
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I like the idea of a painted rear shell and shiny metal front bezel. I like the way this Empire Metalware train lantern looks with OG maroon paint, chrome “focal ray“ adjusting band, and gray hammered metal bezel and end cap.
...
Finer and Finer abrasives will make the bare metal nicer and nicer. Do you think the metal is steel? Al? Brass brush is pretty quick way to some shine. The more work with fine abrasives the shinier...
Really like that, it's becoming a more appealing idea. I think its aluminum.

I'm not sure if it was chromed in the first place, or just polished.
 
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Really like that, it's becoming a more appealing idea. I think its aluminum.

I'm not sure if it was chromed in the first place, or just polished.
If there is or was no rust visible, I'd say that was aluminum. If that's the case, polish it up! From a short distance, the brushed look of it now is pretty cool. A bench grinder with a polishing wheel and some polish will shine up aluminum to a mirror finish.
 
Polishing steel to a chrome like finish is great and not too hard if you are going to keep up with it on polishing, but if you don’t touch it and don’t have it in a perfectly climate controlled room it will rust back. If it’s aluminum it’s really easy to shine up and shouldn’t be too hard
 
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